


No Strings

by MightyMousy



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Carick, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 09:20:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3972580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MightyMousy/pseuds/MightyMousy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carol plays an April Fool's Day prank on Rick that leads to something neither of them expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Strings

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this doesn't suck :(

There wasn't much to do sometimes. There were days when the work just wasn't enough to pull the mind from dark thoughts.

Of course there was the library but Carol didn't want to read about the old world. She didn't want to be reminded of normalcy. She didn't want to feel scorn for characters bitching and moaning about trivial things and think such things as how she wished a cheating man, or money for the electric bill, were the worst of her problems.

Carol wanted something to do. She wanted something that would take her mind off the problems of life. She didn't need constant distraction. Just something good to look forward to.

"Carol. You have a slug on your shirt," Carl Grimes said.

She immediately looked down to locate the offending, slimy creature but saw nothing.

"April Fool's," he said, and laughed.

"It's April first?"

He nodded. "You know Dave from Woodbury? He's been keeping track of time since all this started."

"I thought it was almost May. I was way off. Good joke. Now go find your dad. He's asking about you."

"Ok. Where is he?"

She winked. "April Fool's."

They shared a laugh and Carol headed outside. It was going to rain but she didn't care. She needed some fresh air. She needed to see some trees and feel a breeze on her skin.

"Carol," Rick said. He approached with a hoe in hand that he sat down beside the entrance. "I'm gonna have to go on a run."

"I'm not falling for that twice," she said, smiling.

He frowned. "What?"

"Carl already pranked me."

He looked a little annoyed. Then again, he was always annoyed lately. Playing farmer wasn't something he enjoyed. He wanted a gun in his hand not a shovel. Still, he was trying to change for his son and she admired that. He also wasn't joking with her.

"Pranked you? He do something mean or--"

"No, not at all. Just some harmless fun. So, a run?"

"Yeah, I need backup. You in?"

"Sure, I'm bored anyway. Nothing to do but laundry. Doesn't Daryl usually take care of the runs?"

"He twisted his ankle up pretty good on his last run. Dr. S has him laid up for a few days to make sure it heals properly. Michonne's out looking for the Governor, so..."

"When did that happen?"

"This morning. He had to leave his haul hidden in a house a few miles from here. We just need to retrieve it, add a little to it. Simple run."

"I'll get my things, meet you at the gate in ten."

"Good deal," he said, and walked toward the garage to get a truck.

Carol noticed a lot of things about a lot of people and Rick's stiff walk and slightly slumped shoulders were something that always caught her attention. He'd changed, and not for the better, since losing Lori.

He was no longer their leader. Not officially. That's why they'd formed the council, since no single one of them felt qualified to fill his boots all their own. Still, when Rick walked by everybody stood a little straighter, got a little quieter, and even felt a little safer, and that told Carol he was their leader even if he didn't want to be. Some teenagers Beth was talking to suddenly got to their feet as he approached to kiss Judith before going on to the garage.

He had their respect. He was their rescuer. Regardless of whether he wanted it or not, Rick Grimes was the king of their castle and it was a burden he couldn't escape no matter how he tried.

 

**~-~-~-~**

 

Carol jumped into the truck, drops of water on her shirt from the deluge that had started. Rick flipped on the wipers and a couple of people near the gate opened it so they could pass. The weather couldn't be shittier for a run but they needed the rain for their crops. Rick flipped on the radio and slipped a CD in, playing some mixed CD of country music. Tim McGraw's voice filled the cab of the dodge truck.

"I wonder what happened to him," Carol said. "He a walker or surviving with a group somewhere?"

Rick only shrugged. He was sad. Always sad. He never found it within himself to smile unless Judith was doing something cute. Ghosts of his wife and former best friend haunted him at all times. She'd love to see him smile, just once but damn if she could think of a prank that would put one on his face.

"Smile," she said, looking at him while Tim kept singing his sad love song.

"What?" he said.

"You never smile anymore."

"Nothing to smile about, is there?"

"No, I guess not. It's a shame. Man as sexy as you never smiling."

She didn't know where the words came from or why they slipped past her lips but there they were. Spoken and could never be unspoken. She'd like to chalk it up to a desire to see a smile on his face but some of it was simply that she wanted to keep the April Fool's thing going. A prank at Rick's expense would be mean but it might just work if she played her cards right.

He snorted, a smile almost tugging at his lips. "Sexy? Me?"

"Yeah you. With the muscles and the beard and those pretty blue eyes. Shame those pouty lips of yours never curve up in a smile."

"Carol," he said, shaking his head. "I appreciate what you're trying to do but don't. I'm just not in the mood."

"You ever in the mood?" she asked.

"No. I never want to smile."

"I'm not talking about smiling anymore. I’m talking about fucking."

He looked away from the road, shock on his face, and then looked back. "What?" he said, his voice damn near in a squeak.

"You're a big boy. You can talk about sex. You ever just want to fuck for the sake of fucking? I know I do. I didn't have a good sex life with Ed. Little dick, no stamina--"

"Carol!"

She laughed now and then there it was, a smile, a full, beautiful smile on his face.

"What?"

"Shut up," he said, and raked a hand through his hair, his face tinged a bright shade of red.

"Ah, there it is. I knew you could do it. Still, it's true. I hated that man. Who wants to fuck a man they hate?"

He didn't answer, just kept driving, a little too fast to conserve gas in her opinion.

"Why don't we do it?"

His hand on the steering wheel gripped tight, his knuckles turning white under his skin. "Carol…"

"I'm serious. Let's pull over and fuck. It's raining. I've always wanted to fog up the windows in the rain with a hot man."

He shifted in his seat and rolled his shoulders.

"This isn't appropriate," he said. "Let's change the subject."

"Fine," she said. "Let's not pull over and screw like a couple of horny teenagers. No strings attached, just a release between a couple of good friends."

They rode on in silence. She was waiting for the moment he said something, seemed like he would do it, then she'd holler April Fool's, they'd laugh, and go on their way. He kept stealing glances at her, fidgeting, rubbing at his beard, right until they pulled up in front of the house Daryl had given them the address too. No walkers in sight.

He shut off the engine but didn't move to get out.

"No strings?" he said.

That was it, the moment she'd been waiting for.

"April Fool's," she said, and laughed at the blank look on his face.

 "April Fool's?"

"Yeah. Carl pranked me earlier. I thought you knew," she said. "He didn't get you too?"

"No."

"Oh, well, score for me."

"You were pranking me the whole time?"

"Well…yeah. You don't wanna have sex with me."

He was staring at her now. Then he nodded. "Right. April Fool's. Got you back. Let's get the job done."

She released a breath that she hadn't been aware she was holding until then. He'd been serious. He'd been ready to fuck her on the front seat of that truck. As she watched him walking up to the house, uncaring of the rain drenching him, she let the idea of it really sink in. Her on her back with Rick on top of her, inside of her, his narrow hips rolling between her thighs, pushing her toward a release she'd been needing, literally, for years. He needed it too, apparently. Maybe, she thought, if he released some of that pent up sexual energy he wouldn't walk around like he was just waiting for the next disaster…just waiting to die.

He'd wanted it and she'd spoiled the moment with a stupid April Fool's joke. Was it too late? He stood at the door of the house waiting for her to come in. She got out, the downpour soaking her before she was half way to the house.

"Rick…"

"Let's just get the job done," he said, back to being his surly self. He opened the door and looked for intruders, walkers, any kind of threat, and she followed him inside.

 

**~-~-~-~**

 

It took only a half an hour before they called the rest of the run a bust. They had Daryl's haul of medicines and bandages, and they added some canned goods and blankets to the haul but otherwise they didn't find much of use. Rick climbed into the truck and Carol was sure he was pissed off at her. Not that she could blame him.

"Rick, I'm sorry. That was a really shitty joke. I thought you'd think it was funny."

He shrugged and put the key in the ignition but she covered his hand with hers.

"Talk to me."

"About what?"

"Anything. I just...prank me back."

"A little hard to do if you're expecting it. Carol, it's okay, really. Let's just get back and..."

She didn't know what possessed her to place her hand on his crotch. It was something Andrea had told her she did to Shane once. Coming back from a run looking for Sophia she just reached over and rubbed him. She'd gotten what she wanted pretty damn fast but that was Shane. Rick was a whole other animal.

Or was he? A lot had changed in a short while. Rick was more like Shane than anybody cared to admit. He was a lot less hesitant to kill. Would he be a lot less hesitant to fuck, too?

He sat back, taking his hand off the key, and regarded her as his cock began to swell and harden under her hand.

"No strings," she said, rubbing with even more pressure.

God, Rick was so different than any other man she'd ever been with. She'd only ever had bullies, drawing them to her like a moth to a flame. They'd been men who cared nothing for her pleasure, regardless of how she'd wished they did.

Rick was different. Not only was he a hundred times sexier than the men she'd given herself to, with her low self-esteem convincing her she didn't deserve better, but he was a man that the very idea of him having his way with her, with no regard for what pleased her, made her wetter than she'd ever thought she could be.

"Another prank?"

"God, no."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to take me. Use me. I want you to do whatever you need to do to get off."

His breathing was labored with need. His eyes bore into hers before he reached under the seat, pulled the lever, and pushed it back as far as it would go. He reclined it as well and went for his buckle.

"Get out of your pants," he said, making it an order she was all too happy to obey.

Carol worked her cargo pants down and realized the Windows were fogging up fast. It was hot in the truck and the smell of her arousal filled their senses.

Rick pulled Carol onto his lap after he worked his own jeans down. His cock was hard and flushed dark, twitching with a need to sink into her. Carol lifted up, prepared to take him into her, eager to feel him inside, but he refused. Rather than penetrate her with his dick he slipped two fingers inside of her, feeling her slick walls pulse around his digits.

"It _has_ been a long time for you," he said. His voice was low, gruff, and Carol wanted him to use his tongue to kiss her rather than talk.

She brushed her lips over his and he gripped the back of her neck and pulled her into a rough kiss. Everything was rough about this encounter, from the way his tongue plundered her mouth, the way he dragged his hand from the back of her neck to run it over one of her tits, to the way he fingered her, fucking her in the most frustrating way possible by keeping his strokes shallow.

Carol growled, pushing her hips down, trying to make him reach deeper, but he refused to give her what she wanted. She pulled out of the kiss and stilled her wiggling hips.

"You punishing me for my prank?"

"No. I'm doing what I want," he said. "You don't like it."

"I need more."

She suddenly cried out when he plunged his fingers in deep and then withdrew. He was smiling again.

"Again, please..." she begged.

He grazed her clit with his thumb, keeping the penetration shallow, before teasingly laying light strokes against her sensitive bud.

"Rick..."

She felt his fingers curve inside of her. After a few moments he found her spot and stroked it, slow, putting pressure on it while using his other thumb to toy with her clit.

"Look at me," he said.

Carol found that command a bit more difficult to obey. Having Rick finger her, arouse her, drive her toward release made it difficult to look him in the eye. She didn't want a complete connection in that moment.

Carol wanted to shut herself off and enjoy the moment in the darkness behind her eyelids where she could hide her feelings from him. Now he was demanding she open the windows to her soul to let him gaze in. She didn't want him to see the ugly things that crawled there in the darkness created by a lifetime of abuse that started in her childhood and stopped only when the world had come to an end.

He stilled inside her and Carol gave in to the command of another demanding man. She'd have done anything for him to keep pleasuring her. Maybe he didn't just want to see into her soul. Maybe, she thought, he needed her to look into his.

So she did. She looked and she saw something too familiar. Darkness. Coldness. She also saw something good. Something human that wanted to live but would die without nourishment and light.

She came undone as she looked into his eyes, as his fingers probed a place inside her that had literally never been touched before. As soon as her walls stopped fluttering, as soon as she began to come down from a rare orgasm she hadn't had to give herself, Rick maneuvered Carol onto her back.

He wanted her legs around him so she cocooned him between her thighs. He'd given her release. Now it was time for him to get his.

"Look at me," He said again. "I'm not going to just use you."

Rick was at her entrance now. She gazed into his eyes as he pushed inside the welcoming walls of her body. They were now as close as it was physically possible for two people to be, and as he rolled his hips and moved inside her, his thrusts fast and steady, sweat beading on his brow, it scared Carol to know they were forming a connection that went deeper than the physical. Carol stroked his arms, caressed his shoulders, stroked his face, and turned their casual fucking into love making.

He came on a strangled cry, finally breaking eye contact as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. He painted for breath, softened inside of her, and she held on tight, as the minutes dragged by and darkness approached.

"No strings," she whispered.

"April Fool's," he answered, and began to move as his body came to life inside her once again.


End file.
